(Late) Swordtember Prompt 30: Guardian

Sir Luther and his curio, Apolle, spend a lovely day out during the autumn month, Exalt.

Curios are child objects who are the offspring of a deceased living object, called the progenitor. When a progenitor dies a true death, they will yield a withered kernel which will be crushed to extract its germ. The germ is then replanted in a material pile matching their progenitor's material makeup. After a few months, the curio will hatch from their pericarp (egg) and be looked after by their caretaker(s).

Mini-story below:

 

(Late) Swordtember Prompt 20: Shattered - Guard Captian Devlin

Casualty report below written by Molly, paintbrush and Master Undertaker of Minevatt:

My current tasks are documenting the recovery of casualty remains from the recent Jantherizian invasion of my town, Minevatt. I’m still shaken by what happened, but I need to stay focused. Thankfully, we had prior warning for evacuation and most casualties are war-objects, no civilians. We have enough resources to give all casualties a proper revival. Recovery time, however, may take weeks.

Here, we have our first casualty reported. Soldier details provided by General Doomgreater:

Soldier details:

Name and Rank: Devlin, he/him, Guard Captain serving under General Doomgreater
Date and Location of Hatch: during the dawn, 30th of Exalt, in the abbey of Pepperleaves, Sweetwater Valley Village in the Kingdom of Erdestra
Age: 50
Pre-fitted form: Iron pitchfork
Refitted form: Double-edged iron greatsword
Core inlaid: No, his original form was fitted to a sword template.
Revival History: Ten with one failed. No sign of crumbling.

Casualty Report:

Cause of Death: Shattered by Jantherizian halberd pack attack.
Additional notes: Remains and kernel found by Gwuenevere in destroyed metal refinery in Minevatt. Halberds were prevented from taking Devlin’s kernel prisoner while Gwuenevere fight them off. Remains and kernel are recovered by General Doomgreater’s soldiers.

State of Remains: Pommel split in two but still attached. Grip is splintered with its leather wrapping becoming undone. Hilt is broken on the right side but the other side is still intact. Rainguard faceplate has a complex fracture (possible ichoridic tearing, ichor therapy may be required). The remaining blade is broken into several pieces.
Kernel state: Good retraction from core remains. No donated ichor is needed.
Non-attached remains: Gloves are in mild condition, repairs are needed. Cape, however, is far too damaged, replacement is required.

Repair requirements: Since Devlin’s remains are intact, they can be used to greatly offset the material cost for the Ritual of Convalescence. However, due to the extensive damage to his core, Devlin’s remains may need to be deconstructed and repaired separately by a blacksmith. Once remains are repaired, they will be rejoined with his kernel and revival will be a success.

Additional Comments from Doomgreater:

Blades’ Dammit Devlin! What made you think you can fight an entire halberd pack? You’re lucky they didn’t eat you alive. You owe me an explanation when you wake up.

Oh, one more thing. That cloak saved you. Nearly got herself torn apart while fightn’ them halberds.

Swordtember Prompt 12: Void - Lord Damocles

 

Swordtember Prompt 12: Void

Lord Damocles

Nothing but a tarnished memory.

A long-forgotten hero ripped from his glory and fame far too soon. A rebel turned tyrant.

Swordtember prompt 11: Mythological - Animalculous Vivusobjectus

 

Goddess Alexandria (she/her) of Antiqua transformed from the onset of Soul Putrification caused by the Inversion Event.

Short story below!

Swordtember Prompt 10: Royal - Ekaterini

 

Swordtember Prompt 10: Royal

Arch Ekaterini (She/Her), a sovereign of Erdestra and progenitor of Prince Luther. In this image, she is 150yrs old with a permanent core crumbling, some parts of her blade are covered with protective plates.

Crumbling comes in many different forms depending on a living object's core type. Crumbling is when an object's ichor structure fails to self-repair parts of their core and usually occurs later in life. It's possible, however, for younger living objects to undergo crumbling if they got a major injury or undergo failed revivals. It's a chronic uncurable condition that worsens over time, but there are ways to improve one's quality of life. Patching holes with materials, avoiding activities that may cause injury, and assistive tools for daily life are ways that help those with crumbling.

Bio below!

 

 

Swordtember prompt 4: Crystal

Feat. Gwuenevere (she/her) and General Tristan (they/them) (story under read more)

What strange alchemy is this??

A fine example of Gwuenevere’s crystal attack powers…

General Tristan, a broadsword who serves under the Janthizerain Arch Thermite, is tasked to take his soldiers to capture an Erdestrian mining town near its southern borders. Surrounded by earthen domes and ravines, the mines here are an important source of metals used to construct flying polearms and war-torches for Erdestra’s armies. If this town is destroyed and its resources looted by Sir Tristan, it will weaken Erdestra’s supply chain.

Without warning, Tristan invades the town, giving little time for its citizens to evacuate. Tristan allows their soldiers to ransack the town’s buildings, refineries, and mines. But from over the hills comes the Erdestrian General Doomgreater, Prince Luther, and their army to take it back. As the two armies clash, Tristan has their forces break down the supports in the mines in hopes of causing a cave-in. But as they hack through the mines’ columns, a lone Erdestrian soldier follows them inside.

Tristan heard rumors of a cloak that somehow defeated General Viez during a battle a month ago. It was said this cloak wielded a crystal blade made from her ichor, and its sharp edge cut through steel, no matter its thickness. Tristan thought it was ridiculous gossip about Viez’s sour defeat. What piece of ragged cloth would ever think of fighting?! Yet Gwuenevere stands before them, fighting their soliders with that crystalline blade.

No matter how much they swipe at her with their blades, Tristan and their soldiers quickly find Gwuenevere a formidable opponent. She is quick, focused, and incredibly stubborn for a fragile object. She trained her blade on Tristan, the tip of it scores the surface of their blade from the blade tip to the rainguard of their face. Now hindered by pain, Tristan makes a downward strike to end this tomfoolery.

All that Tristan knew next is the bright blinding light of something erupting out of their face of their rainguard. They hear Gwuenevere’s angered yell and a sudden rush of magic blows them away from the little cloak. Tristan slams into a wall and collapses onto the ground, their blade broken in two. Their upper half of their blade tarnishing and turning to crystal, Tristan looks up with their uninjured eye and sees the cloak charging them with her blade raised for a final strike.

Sometime later, Prince Luther takes a few soldiers to flush out the remaining Janthizerain soldiers from the mines. With General Tristan missing, their soldiers’ morale fallen into complete disorder, and many had fleed. In the mines, Luther found the caverns covered in familiar glowing crystals. In a large room of broken columns and ransacked storage chests, Luther finds Gwuenevere escorting a few young curios who hid in the mines from Tristan’s soldiers. Gwuenevere is all torn up from her fight, but her material enhancements strengthen her fabric body and keep her going.

As Luther and his men help Gwuenevere find the remaining curios in the mines, Luther asks Gwuenevere about General Tristan. Gwuenevere points to a large crystal column that snaked up and down a nearby stone wall. There embedded within it is General Tristan the broadsword, their metal core warped and twisted by glowing crystals while their kernel lies entrapped by its crystalline prison.

Swordtember prompt 1 - Gothic - Lord Reynold

 Completed #swordtember prompt 1: Gothic

Lord Reynold (he/him, 34yrs) of Erdestra's Northern Borders

An esteemed aristocrat and patron of the arts. Especially architectural pursuits for castles, material storage, and refineries.

Hatched from a family of silver knives, he loves funding the largest and most elaborate structures in Erdestra. His favorite architectural element: flying buttresses.

His original form was a silver knife. As a refitted sword, his blade is iron with his silver core embedded within it. His current refit model is a writhen-hilted sword. His grip is made of poplar wood, with a bronze pommel and crossguard. His gloves and crossguard straps are made of hardened plant leather. His cape is made of thin wool fabric, partially ichoridic to have it roll up in a tight ball behind his crossguard while fighting.

He's a kind and exuberant fellow, known to talk about the various projects he funds. Reynold enjoys making friends, a very helpful skill for building allies during troubled times.

Upon his cape are two figures he considers his closest friends, Prince Luther and Lady Gwuenevere. He aided them through thick and thin throughout the battles with the Janthizerains after Arch Ekaterini's death (Prince Luther's progenitor).

Using randomspirits swordtember prompts.

Art by Amari Harkness - @Penwrythe | Not for the purpose of generated AI Art or NFTs

Broken Mirror - Bygone Era

 

Broken Mirror - Bygone Era

Side A Feat. Goddess Nikey

My self-image is just as murky as a reflection in a worn old mirror. Broken and weathered by time's toll. There's a weight upon me. I will carry it eternally, even as the world dies and the ground below me falls away. At this moment, I wish to come to terms with it. My dull reflection carries it, too.

Happy Pride!

 

Grim Redesign!

 

 Decided to explore Grim's CHR design again! I gave them a more naturalistic look with two afro variations. I haven't developed more updated lore on them yet, but I like the idea of them being an immersive daydreamer like myself. They were Plural/System (system origin is unknown) in their old lore, but I don't think I'm equipped with the knowledge to handle such a sensitive topic for a character. Maybe with more research at a later time, I will explore this for them again.

Removing their original monster design changes their old lore a bit. They live in Astoria, a place where stories come from. Characters in this world are in a never-ending search for a story to fit in. Grim is studying to be a protagonist, but they are a glitch character, a character that fits in no genre. Their old design has parts implying they are a combination of different characters. They look human but still had monster traits. They look genderfluid and can be interpreted as either male or female. They mostly see themself as non-binary and consider themself human.

The important theme in their old story was that all characters must find their one true story or else they fade away. To do so, they must be in a strong community, participate in stories with other characters, and keep developing themselves. For Grim, they not only need to do all this for themself but for their headmates as well. They and their headmates must work together to find their story.

Here are the old sketches of them from last year:

Some sketches and thoughts for a character redesign for my old character, Grim.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

If you are Plural or a System, let me know what you think of this character!

Speedpaint below!